Forget me Not
by twisted-remnant
Summary: Follow four individuals as they begin their journey through a periless world swarming with the undead. Each has their own skills, fears, strengths, and weaknesses. Each one of them capable alone, yet weak unless united together. Please read and review.
1. Prologue

**Forget me Not**

By:  
twisted-remnant

Chapter 1:  
**Prologue**

2008 was the year the world ended. It wasn't in a spectacular blaze as the sun expanded and absorbed the small rock within its mass. It wasn't in a grand explosion as the core imploded. The end of the world wasn't even due to nuclear holocaust, although it was one of the main catalysts that had shaped the world into the way it appears now.

A simple virus was the cause of mankind's downfall. Found naturally in the environment, but completely harmless unless extracted and mixed with a liquid, Solanum was a bacterium that allowed certain plants to reproduce with dazzling colors. It also allowed dead plants to still continue fertilizing other plants for several years. Scientists discovered early on that it was easily extracted, and when injected directly into dead animals; mainly rats, they were reanimated, brought back from the dead.

Testing progressed from animals to human testing, and the results were marvelous. The once dead were up and moving again. The motor functions, memories, and intelligence of the previously deceased returned completely. Their names, addresses, names of their children and or grandchildren were still fresh in their minds. It was as if the men and women injected with Solanum had simply been asleep for an extended period of time. It was a spectacular moment in human history. The discovery of a bacteria that could be used to bring loved ones back from the dead without any adverse effects, or so it was first believed.

Even after successfully reanimating the dead, the subjects were placed under observation, and underwent daily tests to check their vital systems, muscles, and neural synapses firing in the brain. It was through these daily tests that a disturbing discovery was made. The subject's organs were failing. In the first subjects, the people that had first received an injection of Solanum, their organs were failing slowly, at a rate that wouldn't have been noticed under normal observation, but daily tests allowed them to see it much sooner. Each subsequent test group after that had their organs fail faster and faster, until the bacteria simply reanimated the dead for a few seconds, before killing off the human.

The scientists, heads downcast and hopes shattered, left the clean-up crew to dispose of the bodies. It was in this hour, which people have come to know as "Final Hour" that the true infection began to spread.

The subjects were not truly dead, in a mobile sense. Instead, their vital organs were shut down, while their neural synapses continued to fire at random. It was due to this that the subjects were still able to move, but their intelligence and memories were obsolete.

The clean-up crew entered the lab, unaware of the danger that surrounded them as they bent over the infected bodies to move them to gurneys, after which the bodies would then be rolled to large incinerators where they would be tossed in. The men were instantly assaulted by the men and women that were believed to be truly dead now. Large chunks of flesh were ripped off of their bodies as their screams echoed through the lab.

Alarms rang and security teams moved into position to stabilize the situation, but they were overrun, their tactics ineffective against the infected test subjects. The men that were assigned to dispose of the bodies soon joined the onslaught. In another room, computers recorded the data that was transmitted to them via the electrodes that were still attached to the test subject's bodes. A team of scientists monitoring the information were astonished at what they saw. The test subject's heartbeats were non-existent, and their core temperature was well below that of normal, and was still declining. By all standards, they should've been dead, yet they were up and moving; the dead were walking.

It took only a few hours for the entire staff and faculty of the building to become infected. Some only received minor cuts or scrapes, and were able to escape the compound and return to their homes, to their loved ones. It was here where the infection finally took over their body and "killed" them. Their wives and children, the ones who had once looked to them for protection, had become their victims, and they were devoured mercilessly.

That was only the beginning, it's been several years since then, but to truly understand how anyone could possibly survive now, you must return to the beginning, and follow the story of four people, each with their own skills, fears, strengths, and weaknesses. Each one of them capable alone, yet weak unless united together.

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**A/N:** This is just the prologue to my new story. Please R&R, even though there probably won't be much to say about this, until next time.

Disclaimer: Credit for Solanum goes to Max Brooks, however the characters are my own.


	2. Genesis

Chapter 2:  
**Genesis**

_Day: 1 _

The world went to hell in a hand basket on that chilly day in mid-August. Everyone was along for the ride, including Chicago, Illinois native Nathaniel Marks. A 32 year old former marine, now turned bodyguard/hired gun for the highest bidder. A great living if you were able to stomach the work that was sometimes involved with the job; but was often left out of the job description in the beginning.

The apartment complex Nathaniel lived in, Hawthorne House, located on Lake Shore Drive didn't have the greatest view of the city. But when the shit hit the fan, his studio apartment located at the top of the building was the best location he could hope for. From his living room window, he was able to watch as the city burned, alarms clanged, and people screamed.

The large, plasma screen television behind Nathaniel was muted, the face of a young reporter silently spitting out as much information as she could within the time allotted to her. He'd heard the same information throughout the entire morning and nothing had changed since then. So the former marine had silenced the woman's voice. Stay indoors, lock up, and close your blinds, that was the gist of what the news stations had to offer. Nothing about the source of the infection, or how it was able to spread from person to person, or how anyone who was required to defend themselves could go about doing so; it was infuriating to Nathaniel.

The simple fact was, people were "rioting". More appropriately, they were eating each other, and causing mass panic throughout the city of Chicago. By all accounts from the first interviews they had taken with police officials, the attacks had began in downtown Chicago, and quickly spread uptown.

The man was standing at his window, peering down at the madness and panic ensuing below. So far, the chaos had yet to reach the inside of the apartment complex, but it wouldn't be much longer. Sadly, Nathaniel was incapable of doing anything in ending the horrors that plagued this city. In the end, he would be forced to do what everyone else had to do; survive.

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Doctor Debra Whilling was having a bad day, in fact, that was an understatement. Awaking to a shrill alarm after only receiving two hours of sleep had been the beginning of what would become a terrible, hectic day. The constant increase of patients in the emergency room wasn't helping matters either. All of them had the same basic injury; bite wounds. However, each varied in severity and quantity.

There were simple bites that only appeared to need a disinfectant, to those that required immediate surgery. She was soon to discover that things were going to get much worse. Screams echoed through the waiting room as one of the bite victims leaped from his seat and proceeded to tear large chunks of bloody flesh and muscle from the neck of the woman sitting next to him.

Security guards rushed forward to pull the man away from the quickly dying woman, but only succeeded in becoming the next victims of the madman's rampage. Soon, several other patients arose from their seats to terrorize the civilians within the waiting room. One of the multitudes that had arisen turned her attention towards Debra and rushed her. A single gunshot echoed through the waiting room, cause the panic and chaos to slacken for a moment, only to return to its previous fervor a second later. The gunshot came from a security guard near the entrance of the emergency room, a smoking Beretta 92 in his hand.

The woman that had previously been rushing Debra stumbled as the bullet slammed into her back, but she did not fall. However, it gave Debra the few seconds she needed to turn and run from the waiting room. Her Reeboks smacked against the highly polished floor as she rushed past closed rooms, screams coming from the other sides of their doors. A glance over her shoulder caused her heartbeat to slow down considerably. The crazed woman wasn't following her, she had more than likely turned her attention to the security guard that had fired at her. The 29 year old doctor muttered a silent "thank you" to the security guard whose name she did not know. Because of him, she'd been able to escape, but he had very likely given his own life.

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He'd had it planned perfectly; the entire day was going to be amazing. Pick her up from her house; take her shopping for clothes, shoes, whatever she wanted. Later the two of them would have lunch at a place of her choosing. Afterwards a movie, then back to his place for dinner, one that he would cook himself. That was when he would propose; little did the young man know he couldn't make it much farther than the shopping spree that day.

Josh had indeed picked his girlfriend, Caitlin James, up from her house and took her shopping. That was as far as they got, the mall had been a madhouse. He should've known, every radio station they turned to was covering the riots and attacks that were spreading rapidly throughout Chicago. Neither he, nor Caitlin had realized just how far the panic had spread, until they reached the shopping center. One of the rioters slammed into the driver side of the small Honda Civic Si, a graduation gift from his parents.

The force with which the man had slammed into the car rocked it from side to side, and an ear splitting scream came from Caitlin. Josh nearly jumped out of his skin, and it felt like his heart was now beating in his throat. Streaks of blood ran down the window from the open wounds in the man's hands. His lower jaw hung limply, the left side torn away completely from the rest of his head.

A horrid retching sound came from his right, as the smell of bile filled the interior of the compact car. Josh was only vaguely aware of the vomit that now pooled around his girlfriend's shoes. The two's worries were only just beginning; the window was beginning to crack due to the constant bombardment of the man's fists against the saf-t-glass.

Caitlin's whimpering was the only sound in Josh's ears as he slammed his foot on the accelerator and shot away from the horrendous sight. In only a moment, the two of them were several hundred yards away from the mall, as the turbocharged twin-cam whined, sending power to the front wheels. The young man reached out and rubbed his future wife's back, giving her the only comfort he could at the moment.

"It's ok, baby. It's gone, there's nothing there anymore."

Still, her crying, the whine of the engine, and his heartbeat were the only sounds that made it to his ears. There would be plenty of time later to let his mind wander, and take in the events that had already occurred. But at the moment, he had only one priority, and that was making sure Caitlin stayed safe.

It'd been planned perfectly, why did the day have to turn out so wrong?

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**A/N: **Here it is, the second chapter. Thank you for all the readers who took the time to review. I plan to have a new chapter out at least once a week, for those of you who might be wondering. However, if it takes longer, bear with me. There is a great deal of time, patience, and believe it or not, research going into this story. So, enjoy this latest chapter. Constructive criticism is welcomed.

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End file.
